What if Walt Disney was the producer of Looney Tunes/Walt Disney Animated Classics/Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a 1953 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney and based on the stage play of the same name by James M. Barrie. It is the 17th Disney animated feature film and was originally released on February 5, 1953, by RKO Radio Pictures. Peter Pan is the final Disney animated feature released through RKO before Walt Disney's founding of his own distribution company, Buena Vista Distribution while the studio's animated short films (mainly the Looney Tunes/''Merrie Melodies'' series) remained distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, later in 1953 after the film was released. Peter Pan is also the final Disney film in which all nine members of Disney's Nine Old Men worked together as directing animators. It is also the second Disney animated film starring Kathryn Beaumont, Heather Angel, and Bill Thompson after their roles in the animated feature Alice in Wonderland. The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. A sequel titled Peter Pan II: Return to Neverland was released in 2002, and a series of direct-to-DVD prequels produced by DisneyToon Studios focusing on Tinker Bell began in 2008. Plot In the Edwardian London neighborhood of Bloomsbury, George and Mary Darling's preparations to attend a party are disrupted by the antics of their sons, John and Michael, acting out a story about Peter Pan and the pirates that were told to them by their older sister, Wendy. Their father angrily declares that Wendy has gotten too old to continue staying in the nursery with them, and it's time for her to grow up much to everyone's shock. When George Darling began to storm out the room he trips over the family's dog Nana. Both Nana and George fall but the rest of the family only comforts Nana. George is shocked and this causes Nana to be put in the dog house. Nana is heartbroken as she never sleeps in the dog house. George feels sympathy for Nana but claims the children are not puppies and Nana is truly a dog. When George and Mary leave for the party, Mary asks if the children will be okay without Nana, because Wendy mentioned about capturing Peter Pan's shadow the previous night at the window. George calls the whole thing garbage and tells his wife that she's as bad as the children are, and that it's no wonder that Wendy is getting crazy ideas. That night they are visited in the nursery by Peter Pan himself and his fairy friend Tinker Bell. Wendy is awakened when Peter is trying to get his shadow on. Wendy offers to sew it on for him (as he is trying to reattach it with a bar of soap). Through conversation, Wendy learns that Peter likes to hear her stories. However, when Peter learns that she is to "grow up" the next day, Peter offers to take her to his home, Neverland where she would never grow up. There, she could be the mother figure of the boys who live there. Wendy tries to kiss Peter out of gratitude, but Tinker Bell, who is jealous, pulls Wendy's hair. By this time, Michael and John awaken and are allowed to go with them. Peter sprinkles the three with pixie dust, and after a few false tries, they are able to fly by thinking happy thoughts. Peter then takes them with him to the island of Neverland. A ship of pirates is anchored off Neverland, commanded by Captain Hook with his pet parrot Iago and henchman Mr. Smee. Hook boldly plots to take revenge upon Peter Pan for stealing his treasure. Captain Hook laments Peter Pan's role in causing an crocodile to follow him, due to Peter cutting off his hand and throwing it to the crocodile found it so delicious he's following him everywhere for another taste. The crocodile suddenly shows up next to the ship. Hook hears the clock ticking and his eyebrows and pointing mustache begin twitching in rhythm (with the music of "Never Smile at a Crocodile"). The crocodile's eyes begin popping up to the tune, sending Hook into a panic. The crocodile then emerges from the water onto a rock rubbing his belly and licking his lips, accompanied by a wide smile towards the captain. Hook then screams for Iago and Mr. Smee to save him, and Smee shoos off the crocodile. The crocodile then frowns and wiggles his tail to the ticking clock while sulking away. The crew's restlessness is interrupted by the arrival of Peter and the Darlings. The children easily evade them, and despite a trick by jealous Tinker Bell to have Wendy killed, they meet up with the Lost Boys: six lads in animal-costume pajamas, who look to Peter as their leader. John and Michael set off with the Lost Boys to find the island's Indians, who instead capture them, believing them responsible for taking the chief's daughter Tiger Lily. Meanwhile, Peter takes Wendy to see the mermaids, where they see that Hook, Iago and Smee have captured Tiger Lily, to coerce her into revealing Peter's hideout. Peter and Wendy free her, and Peter duels Hook and has the crocodile chase him and Iago away. As Peter crows in triumph, Wendy reminds him of Tiger Lilly, and he rescues the princess. Peter is honored by the tribe. Eventually, Wendy tells her brothers and the lost boys about the real world and having a mother, at which Peter believes they are leaving to grow up, never to come back. Meanwhile, Hook and Iago plot to take advantage of Tinker Bell's jealousy of Wendy, tricking her into revealing the location of Peter's lair. The pirates lie in wait and capture the Lost Boys and the Darlings as they exit, leaving behind a time bomb to kill Peter. Tinker Bell learns of the plot just in time to snatch the bomb from Peter as it explodes. Peter rescues Tinker Bell from the rubble and together they confront the pirates, releasing the children before they can be forced to walk the plank. Peter engages Hook in single combat as the children fight off the crew and finally succeeds in humiliating the captain. Peter fights Hook in a final showdown until the pirate begs for mercy. Peter then allows Hook to leave and never return. He crows, and Hook lunges at him from behind. Wendy warns Peter, and he ducks, while Hook, along with Iago, falls into the water below, where the crocodile was waiting. Hook and his crew flee, with the crocodile in hot pursuit. Peter gallantly commandeers the deserted ship, and with the aid of Tinker Bell's pixie dust, flies it to London with the children aboard. Mr. and Mrs. Darling return home from the party to find Wendy, not in her bed, but sleeping at the open window; John and Michael are asleep in their beds. Wendy wakes and excitedly tells about their adventures. The parents look out the window and see what appears to be a pirate ship in the clouds. Mr. Darling, who has softened his position about Wendy staying in the nursery, recognizes it from his own childhood, as it breaks up into clouds itself. Cast *Bobby Driscoll as Peter Pan *Kathryn Beaumont as Wendy Darling *Paul Collins as John Darling *Tommy Luske as Michael Darling *Hans Conried as George Darling, Captain Hook *Heather Angel as Mary Darling *Mel Blanc as Iago *Bill Thompson as Mr. Smee, Pirate Crew *Candy Candido as Indian Chief *Robert Ellis, Jeffrey Silver, Jonny McGovern, Stuffy Singer as The Lost Boys (singing done by Tony Butala) *Corinne Orr as Tiger Lily *June Foray as Mermaids, Squaw *Sebastian Cabot as the Narrator Production Development and writing Peter Pan was one of Walt Disney's favorite stories and in 1935, he expressed interest in doing an adaptation of Peter Pan as his second film following Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, the live-action film rights were held by Paramount Pictures, in which the copyright owner, the Hospital for Sick Children in London, offered to have Disney make an agreement with Paramount that proved to be unsuccessful. However, in January 1939, Disney obtained the animation rights to the play outbidding the Fleischer Studios who were also developing of animated feature films. By early 1939, a story reel had been completed, and by the following May, Disney had several animators in mind for the characters. Vladimir Tytla was considered for the pirates, Norman Ferguson for the dog, Nana, (who also animated Pluto), and Fred Moore for Tinker Bell. During this time, Disney explored many possibilities of how the story could be interpreted. In the earliest version of the story, the film started by telling Peter Pan's backstory from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, a novel Barrie had written before writing the official Peter Pan story. But on May 20, 1940, during a story meeting, Disney said "We ought to get right into the story itself, where Peter Pan comes to the house to get his shadow. That's where the story picks up. How Peter came to be is really another story." Walt also explored the idea of opening the film in Neverland and Peter Pan coming to Wendy's house to kidnapping her as a mother for the Lost Boys. Eventually, Disney decided that the "kidnapping" was too dark and went back to Barrie's original play where Peter comes to get his shadow and Wendy is eager to see Neverland. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States military took control of the studio and commissioned Walt Disney Productions to produce training and war propaganda films in which pre-production work on Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland were shelved. However, the Bank of America allowed production to continue during the war. After the war had concluded, work on the film resumed with Jack Kinney as director. At the time, Kinney had considered leaving Walt Disney Productions, but wartime restrictions prevented this. Because he did not want Kinney to get out of his contract, Disney appointed Kinney to direct Peter Pan. During this same time, Disney talked to Mary Martin, who was appearing in a stage production of the play, about voicing Peter Pan, although Roy O. Disney complained that her voice was "too heavy, matured, and sophisticated." Jean Arthur contacted Walt about being considered for the role. Walt had also talked to Cary Grant about voicing Captain Hook, in which the actor replied the "idea intrigued him." As he was impatient with the delays, Disney asked Kinney to work on sequences consecutively rather than finish the entire script before it was storyboarded so that a scene would be approved at a morning story meeting and then immediately be put into development. Six months later, during a storyboarding meeting, Kinney presented a two-and-a-half presentation, in which Walt sat silently and stated, "You know, I've been thinking about Cinderella." In 1947, Walt Disney Productions' financial health started to improve again. Around this time, Walt acknowledged the need for sound economic policies, but emphasized to the loaners that slashing production would be suicidal. In order to restore the studio to full financial health, he expressed his desire to return to producing full-length animated films. By then, four animated projects—''Cinderella, ''Alice in Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows and Peter Pan—were in development. Walt felt the characters in Alice in Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows ''and ''Peter Pan were too cold while Cinderella contained elements similar to Snow White and decided to greenlit the project. Peter Pan was placed back into production in May 1949. The scene in the nursery went through many alterations. For instance in one version, it was Mrs. Darling who found Peter Pan's shadow and showed it to Mr. Darling like in the original play. In another version of the film, Nana went to Neverland with Pan and the Darling children, and the story was told through her eyes. In other interpretations of the story, John Darling was left behind for being too serious, practical and boring, but story artist Ralph Wright convinced Disney to have John go with the others to Neverland. Some versions had Captain Hook seeking revenge upon Peter just for cutting off his hand just like in the original play until Disney had decided the "cutting off Hook's hand would be only an additional reason in the film" and had decided to make Hook also seeking revenge due to a treasure Peter stole from him. The film also included Wendy taking an picture book with stories about Peter; and Peter and the children eating an "Imaginary Dinner". In order to Captain Hook can having a comic relief sidekick besides Mr. Smee, Disney veteran animator Chuck Jones had created a new character, a sarcastic, ill-tempered red-plumed talking scarlet macaw named Iago, who would serving as a excellent comic relief. The red-plumed talking scarlet macaw is an homage to the villain of William Shakespeare's Othello. Walt liked the character too much, so he added Iago into the plot as Hook's main sidekick along with Smee, replacing Hook's right-hand man Gentleman Starkey, who was reduced to a brief speaking cameo. At one point, there was a party in Peter's hideout where Tinker Bell got humiliated and in her rage went and deliberately told Captain Hook the location of Peter Pan's hideout at her own free will. However, Walt felt that this was against Tinker Bell's character and that she had "gone too far" and changed it to Captain Hook kidnapping and persuading Tinker Bell to tell him. There is a point in Barrie's play where Captain Hook puts poison in Peter's dose of medicine and Tinker Bell saves Peter by drinking the poison herself only to be revived by the applause by the theater audience. After much debate, Disney discarded this fearing it would be difficult to achieve in a film. In earlier scripts, there were more scenes involving the Pirates and the Mermaids that were similar to what Disney had previously done with the dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Ultimately, these scenes were cut for pacing reasons. The film was also a little bit darker at one point since there were scenes involving Captain Hook being eaten by the crocodile, the Darling family mourning over their lost children, and Peter and the children discovering the pirates' treasure which is loaded with booby traps. Animation Live-action reference As with previous Disney animated features, a live-action version was filmed to serve as an aid to animators with the actors performing to a prerecorded dialogue track. Margaret Kerry received a call to audition to serve as the live-action reference for Tinker Bell. For the live-action reference, Kerry said she had to hold out her arms and pretend to fly for all the scenes requiring it. Additionally, Kerry served as reference for one of the mermaids along with Connie Hilton and June Foray. At the same time, the studio was looking for an actor to portray Peter Pan, in which Kerry suggested her dancing teacher Roland Dupree for the part. Dupree was interviewed and eventually won the role, in which he provided reference for the flying and action sequences. Bobby Driscoll, who was also the voice of Peter Pan, also served as his live-action reference model, although it was mainly used for the close-up scenes. Hans Conreid completed the voice work over the course of a few days, and served as the live-action reference for two-and-a-half years. Kathryn Beaumont, who was also the voice of Wendy, also performed for the live-action reference footage. Character animation Milt Kahl desired to animate Captain Hook, but was instead assigned to animate Peter Pan and the Darling children in which he claimed he was "outmaneuvered". During production, while animating Peter Pan, Kahl claimed that the hardest thing to animate was a character floating in mid-air. While observing the animation of Peter Pan, Disney complained that the animators let too much of Driscoll's facial features get into the character design. He told Kahl that "they are too masculine, too old. There is something wrong there." "You want to know what's wrong!?... What's wrong is that they don't have any talent in the place" Kahl replied. The role of Captain Hook was instead assigned to Frank Thomas. The characterization of Hook proved to be conflicting as Thomas claimed story artist Ed Penner viewed him as "a very foppish, not strong, dandy-type, who loved all the finery. Kind of a con man. Gerry Geronimi saw him as an Ernest Torrence: a mean, heavy sort of character who used his hook menacingly." When Disney saw Thomas's first test scenes, he said, "Well, that last scene has something I like I think you're beginning to get him. I think we better wait and let Frank go on a little further." Because Thomas could not animate every scene of Hook, certain sequences were given to Wolfgang Reitherman who animated Hook's over-the-top scenes including when he tries to escape from the crocodile. Chuck Jones animated Iago. Jones was so insistent on perfecting Iago that he, under Walt's request, ended up doing almost all the animation for the character himself. Ollie Johnston animated Mr. Smee. To best capture his comedic yet fear-ridden, sycophantic personality, Johnston used a variation of the Dwarf design from Snow White, and had Smee blink numerously. His former mentor, Fred Moore, worked in Johnston's unit as a character animator on minor scenes for Smee, as well as animated the mermaids and the Lost Boys. On November 22, 1952, both he and his second wife, Virginia, were injured in an auto accident on Mount Gleason Drive in Los Angeles. Moore died the following day at the St. Joseph's Hospital across from the Disney studios from a cerebral concussion. Music Songs Music releases Release Home video release Reception Critical response Peter Pan receoved positive reviews from the critics, and currently holds a 75% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews. The New York Times, however, gave the film a mixed review, praising the animation and humor itself, but also declaring that the film was not really faithful to the original Barrie play. However, Time Magazine gave the film a highly favorable review, making no reference to the changes from the original play. Alternately, the controversies over the differences between the play and the film were short lived and Peter Pan is today considered one of Disney's animated classics. There is another controversy that spawned in recent years over the portrayal of the Indians, which is considered racially stereotypical. Michael Jackson cited Peter Pan as his favorite movie of all time, from which he derived the name for his estate Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara, where he had a private amusement park. Ronald D. Moore, one of the executive producers of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, has cited this film as the inspiration for the series' theme of the cyclical nature of time, using the film's opening line, "All of this has happened before and it will all happen again," as a key tenet of the culture's scripture. This is considered the most commercial Disney movie to date, having a theatrical sequel and five Tinker Bell spin-off films (as of 2014). Box office Legacy Disney Fairies Theme parks Sequel and possible live-action remake Trivia *